Friday, February 2nd: 8-6 Red Deer Vipers over the Stettler Lightning
Stettler opened the scoring on Friday with the first two goals, 7:07 and 13:25 into the first period. Red Deer then quickly tied it up with powerplay goals 5:17 and 7:35 into the second period.
The Lightning would go up 4-2 before the end of the second, thanks to goals from Tye Mulgrove and Ethan Rost at 12:20 and 14:14 into the period.
The third period would see eight goals scored as the Vipers scored on the powerplay 39 seconds in to make it 4-3, before scoring two more by 5:20 to make it 5-4. Quade Cassidy responded at 9:09 to tie it for the Lightning, before Red Deer scored twice more to make it a 7-5 game.
The Bolts would go on to bring it within one thanks to another goal at 14:56 from Quade Cassidy, thanks to assists from Dylan Houston and Ethan Rost. The game stopped momentarily as Dylan Houston was presented a trophy for scoring the 300th point of his HJHL career.
Red Deer then scored an empty-netter with 15 seconds remaining to make it an 8-6 final. Lightning Head Coach Rory Rost said of the game: “We had them right where we wanted them, it would have been nice to beat them, but we certainly gave them a scare. If we do meet up at some point in the playoffs, I think it will come in handy as motivation.”
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Saturday, February 3rd: 10-1 Stettler Lightning over the Three Hills Thrashers
Stettler again opened the scoring on Saturday with the first two goals, 3:38 and 12:03 into the first period. Christian Debruyn scored the only goal for Three Hills at 16:27 to make it a 2-1 game.
The second period saw the Bolts score five times. Quade Cassidy scored 3:52 into the period, before Ethan Rost scored shorthanded at 6:46 to put the Lightning up 4-1. Erik Rost then scored for Stettler on the powerplay at 8:22, ahead of goals from Kyle Ringdahl and Quade Cassidy before the period was through.
Stettler continued dominating Three Hills in the third, as Kieran Rost scored 7:04 into the period on the powerplay. Erik Rost then scored at 9:03 to make it a 9-1 game. Finally, Logan Spady scored at 10:12 for the Lightning, thanks to assists from Quade Cassidy and Brendan Bardwell.
As for Saturday’s game, Coach Rost says “We went from facing the best team in the league to the worst, and had an okay first period, a real good second and a decent third period. I think out of all of our games this season, that’s the first time we thumped one team pretty good. Most of our players got at least a point, so it was good in that way for those who’ve been struggling to score goals.”
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In other news: Quade Cassidy of the Lightning has been named the Heritage Junior Hockey League Player of the Week.
The 19 year old recorded eight points (4-4-8) in just two games over the week ending on February 4th. The Stettler product netted two goals and one assist in a loss to the Vipers on Friday, then followed that up with a two-goal, three-assist performance in a win over the Thrashers on Saturday.
The 5-foot-10 forward has registered 35 points (15-20-35) in 20 games this season, and is currently on a four-game point streak that has seen him pick up 13 points (5-8-13) in that span.
Coach Rost commented on this news to say “He’s been playing good hockey, it’s nice to have him back. He came back a little later in the year, and has been playing well for sure.”
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Up next, the Lightning are in Three Hills on Wednesday(Feb. 7) at 8 pm. They then return home on Friday(Feb.9) at 7:30 pm, before closing out the regular season on the road against Blackfalds on Sunday at 3:30 pm.(Feb. 11)
Coach Rost says “We hope to finish the season strong here with four wins in a row if possible to meet Mountainview on a bit of a high, and hopefully we’ll have a good showing in the playoffs here.”
landin.chambers@stettlerindependent.com
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